Well-drilled England finally playing to its strengths - and reaping rewards

At last - at long, long last - England is a World Cup semi-final nation once more.

A 2-0 win over Sweden in Saturday's quarter-final clash on Saturday sealed the Three Lions' first last-four berth on world football's biggest stage in 28 years. Not only that, it was a pleasantly smooth ride in Samara.

Though clearly keen to take the game to their Scandinavian opponents, England's players appeared to be somewhat struggling for air during the opening exchanges, something perhaps unsurprising given both the fact Gareth Southgate selected the same XI that started the mammoth 120-minutes-plus-penalties effort against Colombia just four days ago, and the monumental weight of expectation weighing on their shoulders.

This, however, is a far better-organised England side than fans have been used to seeing in recent years. Despite the slow start, Southgate's men allowed their opponent just one solitary touch inside their penalty area in the entire first half, and utilised possibly their premier strength to break open the game on the half-hour mark.

As Ashley Young prepared to take a corner from the left, the movement of the two Harrys, Kane and Maguire, in the penalty area was superb. Using Raheem Sterling as a smokescreen to lose their respective markers and employing their physicality to restrict defensive access to the danger zone freed up Maguire, who always appeared to be Young's primary target. By the time the ball was met by Maguire's colossal forehead, the closest marker to the 6-foot-3 centre-back was 5-foot-9 winger Emil Forsberg.

Unsurprisingly, the Leicester City defender scored.

It was England's eighth goal of this World Cup to have come from a set piece - if you include penalties scored after fouls given in the box from during dead-ball scenarios - out of an updated total of 11, and it breathed fresh life into the team. The attacking play became more incisive, runs became more ambitious, and everything suddenly got easier. Southgate's side would score a fifth headed goal of the tournament in the second half, Dele Alli profiting from an attempted offside trap which fell apart like shoddily put-together IKEA furniture to nod home at the back post.

All this is indicative of a team which has finally learnt not only how to play to one of its key strengths, but how to master it. This England side under Southgate looks so well-drilled in many areas, and is showing something of a ruthless streak to boot, but the transformation of the Three Lions' aerial abilities has arguably been his greatest success in Russia. It should not be forgotten that it was just two years ago at Euro 2016 under Roy Hodgson that Kane was the one taking corners.

Part of this success, of course, is that it has the tools. Maguire has won 33 aerial duels so far this tournament, second only to Russia's man-mountain Artem Dzyuba. Not only is he a threat himself, he appears to have perfected the art of lobbing the ball back into the danger zone with his head in the way some players struggle to manage with their feet. Aside from Maguire, Kane is always a threat in the air and central defensive partner John Stones has done his fair share of dominating in the box. The deliveries of players such as wing-backs Young and Kieran Trippier - the latter of whom has arguably been the best right-back in Russia this summer - have also facilitated the trend with consistently accurate, devilish, and difficult-to-defend balls in from wide. Their selection over pre-tournament favourites Kyle Walker and Danny Rose in wide defensive positions has been another Southgate masterstroke.

Of course, this England team has other merits. Jordan Pickford has proved a revelation, and is a strong contender for goalkeeper of the tournament after a second successive superb knockout-round display. Jordan Henderson, regardless of what his detractors would have you believe, has been quietly excellent and justified his role; Jesse Lingard has been tremendous in a deep-lying creative role; and Sterling has provided much of the impetus from open play. But it's clear where this side's primary strength lies, and there is no shame in playing firmly toward it. In fact, it would be foolish not to do so.

The last three nations to have scored four goals from corners at a World Cup have won that edition of the tournament, and England's aerial prowess has seen it match its record finals total of 11 goals, set, it's worth noting, in 1966. Southgate's Three Lions have found a winning formula, and the country will be increasingly feeling there's no reason football can't finally come home this summer.